Courtesy Bev RatzlaffOakmont High School's girls basketball team went 19-9, advanced to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs and, averaging more than nine three-pointers per game, has a chance to end up leading the state in that category.

Courtesy Bev RatzlaffOakmont senior Brittany Martin (5), driving inside against Patterson's Danielle Jenkins (30), scored eight points in her final high school game Tuesday night. The Vikings will lose six seniors to graduation, but their roster this season included 12 juniors, sophomores and freshmen.

PATTERSON — It wasn’t so much the 20 turnovers that did in Oakmont High School on Tuesday night.

It was the one that was committed with a tie score. It was a subsequent failure to secure a defensive rebound, which led to the go-ahead basket, then a missed shot on offense and a following transition three-pointer by host Patterson, all in the final two minutes of a 68-61 loss in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III girls basketball playoffs.

“It was an extension of some things going bad,” coach Zach Lovell said at the conclusion of his first season at the helm of the 12th-seeded Vikings, who finished with a 19-9 record and threatened to upset the fifth-seeded Tigers (24-2).

Oakmont, joining Valley Christian Academy’s boys in running the Grinnell System this season — minus an all-out press — knocked down seven three-pointers in a 24-point second quarter that sent the Vikings into the locker room leading 38-32.

Senior Kelsey Caudill scored 13 of her team-high 17 points in the first half on 5-of-5 shooting, including 3 for 3 on three-point attempts, and juniors Sydney Sattelberg and Olivia Francis combined for six assists in the first half.

But Oakmont went cold in the third period, going 4 for 18 overall and 0 for 6 on three-point tries.

“In the second half, we tightened up a little,” Lovell said. “It’s heartbreaking to finish like this, but I thought we did enough to win the game.”

The Vikings canned 13 three-pointers and, averaging more than nine threes per game, have a chance to finish No. 1 in the state in that category, according to Lovell.

He seeks to turn his new program into a family while building a winner. The Vikings will lose six seniors, but there were 12 juniors, sophomores and freshmen on the roster, and Lovell said the JV team was “talented.” Player development and improving as a team will be keys during the offseason.

“I want to be proud of what we put on the court, and I am,” Lovell said.